A Bibliographic Guide to the History of Computer Applications, 1950-1990 (Bibliographies and Indexes in Science and Technology) [Hardcover]

James W. Cortada (Compiler)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0313298769 | ISBN-13: 978-0313298769 | Publication Date: January 30, 1996 | Edition: annotated edition

Covering over 40 industries and dozens of applications, this is the first bibliography on the history of computer applications. After an introductory essay on the history of applications, the volume is divided into two time periods and includes over 1,600 entries, arranged by application and industry. Users will find sections on such fields as higher education, manufacturing, law enforcement, accounting, space travel, ATMs, artificial intelligence, banking, and trucking. Entries are annotated to describe their content and, when appropriate, their historical significance. Compiled by a historian for other historians and economists, the bibliography draws on the entire spectrum of contemporary and historical literature: books, user's guides, trade journals, industry publications, technology and scholarly magazines and journals, and newsletters, including both American and European sources. As the author of several books on information processing and a member of the IBM Corporation, Cortada is in a good position to pick the historically significant literature for inclusion in this bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Cortada's superb bibliography is organized in two periods, 1950-65 and 1966-90. In the 1950s, computers were first being introduced to business and by the early 1960s were going through the first stages of implementation...Historians of computers and technology would find this an excellent research guide.”–Choice

“Much has been written on the history of specific computer models and the companies that produced them. This bibliography goes beyond the mechanics of computers and focuses entirely on the history of how computers were used in the United States....[it] is well suited for large public and academic libraries.”–ALR

About the Author

JAMES W. CORTADA is Senior Consultant for IBM.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 278 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press; annotated edition edition (January 30, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313298769
• ISBN-13: 978-0313298769
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,352,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was trained as an historian with a Ph.D. in modern history, but have spent nearly 40 years at IBM in sales and consulting and am the author of a dozen books on European history and two dozen on the history of information technologies and another dozen on business management. My interests are largely around the role of information in moder societies: use, managemnt, and history. I am currently writing a global history of how computing spread around the world so fast and am publishing a book on how historians think with a lot of my experiences, called Hunting for History. I just did a book on the role of information as THE thing businesses do, make, and worry about, called Information and the Modern Corporation. It was a lot of fun to write and is intended for everyone.